8/8/2019 Unity Breakfast in Watertown celebrates King, focuses
on immigration
1/2
Unity Breakfast in Watertown celebrates King, focuses
onimmigration
By Laura Paine Wicked Local WatertownPosted Jan 17, 2011 @ 03:51
PM
WATERTOWN Andrea Nathan said that as a person of color, she
knows that if itwerent for Martin Luther King Jr., she wouldnt have
the rights she has today.
For the last four years, the Watertown resident has attended the
towns annual UnityBreakfast, now in its 11 th year, with her
children.
As a family we like to remember or commemorate Dr. Kings holiday
and we were verypleased to see something happening [in Watertown],
Nathan told the Watertown TAB &Press. [Its important] because
of the significant impact Dr. King had on civil rights in theUnited
States.
The breakfast on Jan. 17 commemorated King and his diligent work
to end prejudice andracism in the United States.
The focus of the Unity Breakfast was on immigration.Dr. Elena
Letona, an immigration advocate, was the keynote speaker. She spoke
about the
broken U.S. immigration laws and her dream of a day when
immigrants will no longer befeared or hated.
Do we ask ourselves what we really know about people who [break]
this law, Letona said.They are flesh and bone, people, just like
you. We are people who dream, work, love, laughand cry.
Letona, the former director of Centro Presente, an immigrants
rights association, said thatthe 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform
and Immigrant Responsibility Act closed many avenuesto U.S.
citizenship and that it justifies deportation and tearing families
apart.
During the event, Watertown Police Officer Harold Tony Physic
was honored with theUnity Award for his outstanding demonstration
of community service and dedication toWatertown.
I am utterly humbled by this presentation of the Unity Award,
Physic said. All I havedone is continue to do the service I was
elected and hired to do. The community I live indeserves just that.
I will continue to serve, believe in what I do and with the efforts
of theWatertown Police Department, we will continue to serve the
community.
Larry Raskin, of The World in Watertown, described Physics
service as gentle andempathetic, saying that he has stopped crime
in progress, gotten to know business owners andresidents while on
patrol in East Watertown, pulled people from burning buildings
andsaved the lives of those whose hearts literally stopped
beating.
There are some among us who go far beyond what is expected of
them, Raskin said.Officer Harold Tony Physic is such a person.
World in Watertown member Will Twombly quoted Police Chief
Edward Deveau as saying,If I had 25 officers like Tony, I wouldnt
need any sergeants.
He is indeed one of Watertowns finest, Twombly said. He treats
every person he meetswith great respect.
In a moment of unity through music, Chosen Voices of Harmony a
traditional gospelgroup got the audience clapping to their lively
performance, which Reverend AmyMcCreath described as one that would
be heard at the ser vices where King would speak.
Several town and public officials attended the breakfast from
town councilors, schoolcommittee members and library trustees to
State Representative Jonathan Hecht andGovernors Councilor Marilyn
Devaney.
Watertown Middle School 8 th grader Arianna Johnson read an
essay about her experience atsleep-away camp. A fellow camper came
to her aide despite the fact that she and other girlsmade fun of
for being overweight, her clothes and her hair. It taught her that
you cant seewho a person is by looking at their wrapper.
Watertown High School sophomore Logan Riley spoke about the
prevalence of racialprofiling at airports and even at his own
school, which forced him to think twice about who
